Starry-Eyed
by AcornTreeTurtle
Summary: Two worlds collide one quiet evening - the world residing above the surface in normality and the world below veiled in shadow, with nothing but the stars as their witnesses. Now, unable (or unwilling) to return to how things once were, old ties will be tried and new alliances will be formed. Yet however thrilling novel friendships are, nothing is ever as it seems...
1. Chapter 1

*Chapter 1*

She opened her eyes.

Uncurling her stiff arms from underneath her, she stretched and yawned loudly as she cast her gaze about the dark room. The sound of chirping crickets echoed faintly from the open window, announcing the time of night, and the girl smiled as she listened with relaxed contentment.

_"I love summertime. It's just so peaceful." _

Sighing happily, she turned her head and glanced at the depressed couch cushions beside her. A second girl was snoring loudly, head thrown back with mouth agape, and judging by the twitching condition of her limbs she seemed to be deep in a dream.

The semi-alert teenager rose from her bed away from bed gradually, though she realized an ominous predicament lay before her. Unable to discern her whereabouts without tripping over every object, common sense thus dictated she turn on the light or end up on her face. But at the same time, she was hesitant at the idea of disturbing her sleeping friend, who was resting so gracefully. However, she eventually decided with a careless shrug that it was about time to wake up anyway.

As artificial light flooded the room, she quickly rubbed her smarting green eyes to ease their adjustment, groaning in groggy irritation at the harsh brightness. Being careful not to trip over the disarrayed weapons sprawled across the floor, she stumbled back to the couch and obnoxiously poked her friend.

With an abrupt snort, the snoring girl stirred to life and raised her head carefully. She blinked tiredly at her awakener before breaking into a goofy smile that radiated the blissful happiness only sleep could bring. The clips fastened in her hair were tilted askew in the mess of golden brown locks, which currently resembled the windblown mane of a lion. Her sleep-creased clothes combined with the amusing bed-head gave her the appearance of an innocent child waking up after an afternoon nap.

Brushing her untidy bangs from her face, she said, "I think we fell asleep, Lizzy. My goodness, what time is it?"

Elizabeth covered her mouth as another massive yawn escaped, and she glanced down at her watch, squinting at the tiny numbers. "Well, Catherine, it is, uh...11:02 p.m.!" she replied amusedly.

Her once drooping eyes now wide open in surprise, Catherine straightened and said, "Oh. Dear. Not again...I might as well live here, what with my history and its tendency to repeat itself! Catherine comes over in the afternoon, Catherine eats lunch with Lizzy, Catherine goofs off with Lizzy, Catherine eats supper with Lizzy, Catherine falls asleep on Lizzy's couch...Need I go on?"

"No, no, I get your point. But sure, go ahead. We could always use another family member, make yourself at home. Although, I doubt you can do that more than you already have!" Lizzy said with a chuckle.

Catherine laughed and threw her hands in the air as she chirped, "Yeah, well...I can't help it! Your couch is so comfy! I sure hope your parents don't mind though, they're so nice to have let me stay for this long. Even if it does happen...a lot..."

Straightening the buttons on her yellow shirt, Lizzy shrugged and said, "Nah, they don't even notice anymore. You're like part of the family."

Catherine eased herself off the couch to stoop down and retrieve her sai, and with a smile she said, "Still, thanks for having me over. I love our weekly practices together."

"Me too, especially when we do weapons combat! I think next week we'll work on ground defense." Lizzy suggested, resting her bo on the weapons rack and slipping her pocket knife back into its home in her jeans.

"Gosh, I think you've gotten stronger, Lizzy. My arms are aching!" Catherine complained as she lifted her sai up and down, wincing slightly each time.

A ring of laughter broke out in response to her friend's complaint, and in a gesture of mock seriousness, Lizzy planted her hands on her hips as she objected, "But you've gotten much taller! Seriously, it's like every time we fight I have to adjust my style again, otherwise this keeps happening!"

Rubbing a small bruise on her head to emphasize her point, she pushed her lower lip out in a pout.

A shrug of her shoulders complimented by an innocent tilt of the head was all the explanation Catherine offered in her defense, and she giggled happily.

Curtains fluttered lightly in a warm breeze that aired the room, relieving the slight stuffiness of the atmosphere. Though the whisper of wind was a welcome refreshment, a faint sensation of uneasiness soon distracted Lizzy's complacent mind. She gently placed a hand on her friend's shoulder to quiet her bubbly attitude, and both girls listened in mutual silence.

Turning her head slowly in the direction of the curtained window, Lizzy said in a hushed tone, "Someone's outside."

Catherine nodded, her own sharp awareness confirming her friend's. Other than the chirp of crickets, the two girls heard footsteps steadily walking back and forth along the sidewalk outside. The sound itself was not abnormal, it was rather common for civilians to take a stroll along the streets when it pleased them. The context, however, was severely off. If it wasn't odd enough for an individual to go out this time of night, it was even more so if his route included passing by one specific house multiple times.

Keeping her voice barely above a whisper, Catherine asked, "Should we get your parents?"

Lizzy shook her head, her dark chocolate hair falling in front of her face as she pointed out, "It wouldn't help much. My mom would just freak out, and my dad would overreact. Besides, what if it's just some guy lost in this part of town? He could be looking for a street or something. Calling the police on him then would be-"

The girl was cut off by a shout from outside, and a large object struck the side of the house with an alarming thud. Lizzy sharply glanced at the window, and she cleared her throat nervously before adding, "Ok, maybe I was wrong..."

Biting her lip in thought, Catherine debated a risky action she was preparing to take. With a deep breath, she snatched up her sai and bolted for the front door, the realization of what she was about to do pounding against her heart.

Lizzy reached out a hand to stop her unwise friend, but her fingers only grasped thin air. "Are you crazy?" she hissed, the rhetorical question thrown out to disguise her fear. "You have no idea what's out there, you could get hurt!"

The truthful words of Lizzy halted Catherine for a brief moment, and she glanced over her shoulder hesitantly. Despite the logic the situation demanded, her mismatched blue and brown eyes continued to sparkle with curiosity. "I want to see what's going on." she finally admitted.

"With your sai?" asked Lizzy dubiously, her eyebrow arched.

Catherine fingered her weapons uncertainly as she explained, "Just in case...You know, for safety."

Before Lizzy had the chance to drive any more sense into her, Catherine flung open the door and dashed out into the darkness.

Lizzy's emerald eyes repeatedly jumped between the realm outside, where her friend had vanished, to the window, which warned her of unknown dangers, and back to the door once more. A low growl of reluctance followed Lizzy as she grabbed her wooden staff, and taking hold of courage, she followed Catherine's footsteps.

"If something happened to her, I would never be able to forgive myself..." she whispered.


	2. Chapter 2

*Chapter 2*

Four phantoms leapt silently from rooftop to rooftop, their presence a mere undiscovered feature of the city's nightlife. Transformed by the moon into nameless shadows of the night, they dwelt in secrecy, and lived in the quiet of darkness.

Four creatures, shunned by the common population, watched over the city's sleeping state, protecting it from dangers it would never know. They sacrificed their time, energy, and lives daily to guard a world infested with ungrateful beings living their lives in ignorant bliss, all the while knowing full well that they were the heroes needed, but never accepted.

An unusually large turtle stood on two feet as it scanned the brilliantly lit buildings carefully, his senses attuned for any hint of disorder. "Hmm, seems rather quiet tonight..." he said to his companions.

The youngest turtle was currently staring at the sky in a bored stupor, but his interest was aroused at his older brother's remark, and he suggested excitedly, "Great! Let's go back, grab our boards, and shred the streets."

Rising from his lounging position on the ground, a third mutant admitted with a smirk, "For once, Mikey's right. The night is still young, and we're bored."

The alert ninja was soon joined by another brother as he crept to the edge of the rooftop, examining the seemingly peaceful surroundings beneath them. "I don't know, guys..." the tallest terrapin murmured, "I still think we should check the alleys one more time. Just to make sure we didn't miss anything."

With the possibility for enjoyable activity diminished once more, the bored ninja let out an impatient groan and threw his head back. His bright blue eyes darted from one cluster of stellar dust to the next, gazing with awe upon the ancient stars while indulging the slim idea of living plants in their orbit. A smile crossed Michelangelo's lips as a shooting star fell across the nighttime sky, and he followed its path for as far as it went. _"I've heard that humans make wishes on these things, and sometimes they even come true. I don't really know what I'd wish for...maybe..."_

The sound of a cheerful ringtone shattered the silence around them, and the tall turtle fumbled to retrieve the phone in his belt. Dark brown eyes saddened slightly at the message, though it was a sadness associated with nostalgia and recollections of the past, rather than the regret of lost opportunities or actions of a tragic outcome. With a quick motion of his three fingers, he sent a reply back over the invisible wires of communication.

The smirking ninja soon lost his smug expression at the distracted condition of his younger brother, and he asked, "Well, Donnie, who was it?"

Donatello lifted his head, and with a bit of effort he managed to say the word that used to mean the world to him. "April."

The pain he was expecting seemed to have lessened over time, but the memories were still there, and it took a deep breath of air to refresh Donnie with the happenings of the present as he said, "She told me that she finally got accepted into that college in Indiana, and that she'll be making the move down there soon. Casey is apparently joining her as well. His new boss offered him a position in the same area. Lucky for him..."

The watchful turtle glanced over his shoulder upon hearing the news, and a genuine smile brightened his features. "That's good to hear. I hope they both do well." he said.

Raphael, all traces of the smirk wiped clean from his face, remarked with a shake of his head, "I still can't believe April is starting college already. It just doesn't seem right."

Noting the shrug of his younger brother's shoulders, Raph quickly broke off the topic for the sake of Donnie's past sentiments, and he focused his gaze on the City of Light's quiet streets.

_"It would be a lie to say it felt like only yesterday since we first met her. But time can't have gone by that quickly, not in three years..." _

Leaning against a nearby water pipe and folding his arms, Raph narrowed his green eyes in thought.

_"It still doesn't make sense to me that even after we rescued her dad, mutated him, and then un-mutated him, she still hung out with us and actually helped us out of a few tight spots. I thought she'd have better things to do then spend time in the sewers with a couple of mutants. Or still talk to the freaks who wrecked the only normal life she had." _

Raph stole a glance at Donnie, who was pretending, very poorly he might add, to be interested in the graffiti on a brick building.

_"I'm just glad the nerd got over his jealousy of Casey. I remember when April started going out with him, and how Donnie took the news by lockin' himself up in the lab for weeks. Typical. That geek was lucky all I did was break down his door instead of his face. Now, it's like nothing ever happened between him and April. But I know he still thinks of her..."_

The eldest turtle turned his attention to the opposite side of the roof as he strode across the concrete surface, and he peered down at the world below. His suspicion was roused at the sight of an unusual gathering, and Leonardo held up a hand to wave his brothers over. "Hold on, guys," he said, all manner of informality replaced with experienced firmness. "I don't think it's gonna be a quiet night anymore."

"Why? What's up?" asked Mikey, and he followed to where his brother was pointing. His typically enthusiastic face fell at an all-too familiar sight, and he mumbled, "Oh..."

Gathered in front of an old apartment were a handful of Kraang droids, all trying to peer into the darkened windows. Only one was fully outfitted in its human disguise, and it appeared to be the leader of the group as it stood apart from its inferior companions while holding up a scanning device, making occasional comment to the lackey beside him.

The four turtles were now crouched down until they were level with the lip of the rooftop, hidden mostly from sight as they spied on the progress of the enemy. Their irritation, however, grew rapidly at the indiscernible dialogue they were attempting to listen to, and finally Leo said in complaint, "What are they saying? I can't hear anything."

"No problem." whispered Donnie, and he slipped his T-phone into his grasp. Turning to his younger brother, he said, "Mikey, I need yours, too."

Reluctance moved Mikey's arms slowly behind his back, hiding his phone from sight as he asked, "Why...?"  
With a sigh, Donnie assured "I won't hurt it. Promise."

"Well...alright."

Once he had received Mikey's T-phone, Donnie quickly set to work dismantling the cover in order to access the heart of the device. After slightly tweaking the inner workings, Donnie restored it to its previously intact status before throwing it off the roof. To the youngest turtle's relief, his phone made an intact landing, albeit stuck firmly to the side of a dumpster.

"Huh, magnetized T-phones. That's new." remarked Leo with interest.

Sending a programming code to Mikey's phone via his own, Donnie established a one-way connection between them, grinning to himself at his own brilliance. As a final detail, the tall turtle set his device on speaker for him and his brothers to listen in on the Kraang's conversation.

_"This is the correct house. The person who we need for a test subject is in the correct house which we are at."_ said the lead droid.

"Test subject?" whispered Mikey in confusion, only to be harshly shushed by his companions.

Handing the scanning device to a lesser droid, the Kraang indicated to the waiting group and said, _"Kraang, go into the correct house which we are at and bring the test subject back to us."_

The group nodded in unison, obeying their leader without a moment's hesitation as they approached the targeted apartment. Just when a droid had set its hand on the doorknob in preparation for entry, a pair of katana rudely intervened with a single sweeping motion.

As the Kraang fell before his feet in a heap of broken metal, Leonardo lifted his voice to shout, "Get them!"

Jumping down from their hidden alcove on the roof, the three turtles stood by their eldest brother with weapons in hand, all ready to face the coming onslaught of Kraang. Each took his own approach and strategy in battle, though the various styles merged perfectly to form a unified team made up of interdependent parts.

Michelangelo, his twin nunchucks a singular blur of motion, flaunted his superior agility as he ducked in and out of the Kraang's limited reach. His freckled face glowed with a child-like radiance, though the eternal youth he seemed to possess was interrupted by the hidden sharpness in his eyes. Their baby blue color, wide in wonder and delight, carried with their hue all the dark years of his experience.

Donatello juggled his spinning bo staff from one hand to the other, manipulating the linear weapon to shield his body from the enemy's lasers. The heavy sounds of battle fazed him not in the least, for his mind was bent fully on calculating his and the enemy's every move. Even the smallest of slip-ups did not go unnoticed by his intelligent brown eyes, and the turtle grinned at the advantage he held over them. With only a mere handful of throwing stars, he unleashed a carefully computed attack that devastated his opponents in a single motion.

Snarling in fierce anger and pleasure, Raphael barreled his way through a blockade of droids, the pair of silvery sai in his grasp tearing the Kraang's metal bodies to shreds as he went. Green eyes burned bright in the darkness, their electric stare narrowed into slits. A brief glance in the directions of his younger brothers brought a harsh scoff to his lips, and he shook his head at their far-too cautious methods of attack. As he turned to face the fresh wave of droids, Raph twisted his face in a smirk before bringing his armed fists up in a punch.

The eldest turtle, standing tall and proud in the battlefield of fallen Kraang, casually baited his opponents with a beckoning wave. Leonardo stood his ground and held his position until the droids were nearly upon him, but he eluded their snatching hands at the very last second. The countless hours of training he had endured over a lifetime was evident in his smooth attacks, and his katana obeyed the strict perimeters of a pre-determined style. Reflecting the wisdom gained from the burden of leadership, Leo's royal blue eyes glittered brightly in the pale moonlight.

The four brothers fought side-by-side, defending both themselves and each other against a formidable enemy. No ninja was left behind or had to stand in the face of fear alone, every one of them had his brothers' backs, and knew his own would be safe likewise.

Seeing that the lead Kraang was finally deprived of his usual escort of lesser droids, Raph decided to seize the opportunity so conveniently presented to him. With a fearsome cry, he charged the enemy head-on, sai outstretched threateningly. His weapons lodged themselves firmly into the Kraang's human-like shoulders, and once it collapsed from systematic failure Raph carelessly tossed it aside. The droid's body collided against a nearby apartment with a harsh bang, the unexpected sound causing the remaining three turtles to freeze in alarm.

Leo threw his younger brother a pointed glare for his shameful recklessness, and he hissed, "Raph, be quiet! The last thing we want is to wake up any people. I really don't feel like having some freaked-out civilian screaming in my face tonight."

"Uh, guys?" Donnie said in a wavering voice. "I think waking people up is the least of our problems now!"

Raising a shaking finger in the direction of the street, Donnie pointed to an all-too familiar vehicle honing in on their position. The white van screeched to a halt in front of the apartment, and the four brothers watched in dismay as a hoard of Kraang droids poured out from its back doors.

His shoulders sagging as he let out a loud groan, Mikey said in a tired voice, "No, it's not a very quiet night at all anymore!"


	3. Chapter 3

*Chapter 3*

Echoing alongside the girls' pattering footsteps, a second loud crash shook the apartment building to its foundation. Catherine and Lizzy rushed out of doors, their weapons raised and ready to defend themselves, but the shock of the sight before them rendered their bodies frozen in place.

Catherine turned to her friend with eyes wide as dinner plates, and she asked in a breathless whisper, "Am I hallucinating?"

After taking a few moments to steady her stuttering words, Elizabeth cleared her throat before replying, "N-no, we can't both be. It's scientifically impossible to share the same hallucination. That is, of course, if you're seeing the same thing as what I'm seeing."

Dashing across both girls' fields of vision were shadows belonging to unusually large, humanoid turtles, the unrealistic apparitions a cruel trick seemingly being played on their minds. The observers dare not trust their obviously deceiving eyesight, for it also informed them that the turtles were exchanging battle with alien robots.

Armed with nothing more than short-range weapons and reflexes befitting more to a predator than a typically slower animal, the four terrapins made short work of their adversaries. To the stunned females' further disbelief, they heard the beings utter intelligible shouts and grunts in communication with each other from across the battlefield.

The sheer unbelievability of the spectacle stood boldly in defiance of logic and known reality, shaking the core beliefs Lizzy had once held to be fact. She very nearly fainted as the blood drained from her face down to the tips of her tingling fingers, and it took a great deal of shaking her head to clear the oncoming fog.

"This is unreal..." Lizzy heard her friend breathe beside her.

Though their presence was indeed slight in the frenzy of battle, it did not go undetected for long. A metal-plated combatant, one of many who were fighting the giant turtles, swiveled its robotic head backward to stare at the intruders threateningly.

Letting out a petrified squeak as the alien pointed its gun at them, Lizzy exclaimed, "It's real now!"

An electric magenta streak whizzed past their heads, causing the girls to shriek in alarm, and they took cover behind a nearby dumpster just as more followed in its wake.

Her earlier enthusiasm for boldly going out in the face of danger was diminished slightly, but the terrifying experience wasn't enough to stop the thrill zinging in her fingers. Catherine's head reeled with a mix of anxiety and excitement, and she picked at her sai in wonder. The idea of man-sized turtles seemed to be fabricated from a dream, performing only on the stage of their imagination, and yet there they were right in front of them.

Catherine's musings were cut short by the unnerving sensation of a laser grazing her arm, and she flinched as if she had been brutally seared. However, despite her natural instinct to cradle the supposedly wounded arm, there was no pain or sign of injury. To her relief, the only damage visible was a sizable scorch mark on her blouse's sleeve.

"Those things just ruined my shirt! My favorite pink shirt! Oh!" she exclaimed with an indignant huff.

Lizzy, though, could care less for her friend's fashion calamity. As she peered warily around the edge of the dumpster, she half-heartedly placed a reassuring hand on Catherine's shoulder before saying shakily, "I don't think your shirt will be the only thing damaged soon!"

Her eyes were wide with terror for fear of not being able to escape from the mess they had gotten themselves into – not being able to escape unharmed, that is. Lizzy maintained close contact with Catherine as she positioned herself strategically in the front, acting as a sort of shield with bo at the ready. Even with her wits half-maddened by their situation, she still clung to the duty she had to protect her friend selflessly.

Just when the two friends thought they would be stuck behind a reeking dumpster forever, trapped by animated hallucinations, they heard one of the giant turtles call out, "Donnie! Get that Kraang!"

"I'm on it!" replied his companion, following the order without question. He raised the weapon in his hand, a bo staff nearly as tall as him, and twirled it expertly about in a deadly blur of motion. The unfortunate robot in his path was promptly relieved of its head as the wooden staff struck with a dull thud.

Once certain the enemy was permanently incapacitated, the bo wielder lifted his gaze knowingly toward the girls' hiding spot. Intelligent brown eyes narrowed slightly as he straightened his back, and he said quietly, "Leo, I think we have an audience."

A second turtle, the one who had previously given the command to his companion, appeared by his side and looked to where he was gesturing.

There, huddled side by side like scared children seeking refuge in a war, were two teenage girls, their faces drained of color. Both pairs of eyes darted from one turtle to the other, and their mouths formed silent words of astonishment.

Mustering the kindest smile he could manage, the commanding terrapin carefully approached the dumpster with hands apart from his body in peace. "Are you ok? Are you hurt?" he asked the humans, enunciating each syllable slowly as if speaking to simple half-wits.

His questions were initially met with the same frozen stares, but after a tense moment one of the girls stiffly shook her head. Lizzy's voice was a small peep as she assured, "N-no, we're fine. Thank you."

Upon closer examination, Lizzy and Catherine noted the turtle who had offered his concern wore a dark blue mask the same shade as his eyes, which now looked down at them with surprising kindness for an oversized animal. The nearly identical turtle holding the staff had a similar appearance, though his bandana was a soft purple.

Extending his three-fingered hand to help the teens up, the one in blue said, "You girls should go back inside. It's not safe out here."

Catherine numbly nodded as she reached up to accept his hand, only to sharply recoil at the last second. Her features were locked in a state of utter horror as she stared up at the turtle creature, but her gaze wasn't fixed on him at all.

"Look out!" shrieked Catherine, backing away frantically.

The two terrapins whirled around to see one of the robots standing behind them, the point of its gun aimed at their heads and ready to fire. Before they had time to react, however, the mechanical threat suddenly reeled backward from an invisible blow. The turtles watched in fascinated confusion as it collapsed to the ground with a clang, its hand clutching at the handle of a sai protruding from its chest.

"Thanks, Raph. I owe you one!" laughed the blue-clad turtle to a nearby third companion.

The supposedly heroic comrade, a blood red mask across his eyes, merely shot his blue friend an incredulous glare. "That wasn't me!" he said as he raised both of his sai to back the statement. Turning away from the group of four with a shake of his head, not caring to get involved any further, the red turtle resumed his destructive activities.

Puzzlement etched into his reptilian features, the one in purple placed a contemplative finger to his lips. "Then...who...?" he mumbled to no one in particular.

As if in answer to his query, Catherine sprinted across the yard to the fallen robot and knelt beside it. Grasping the sai handle embedded in the metal, she roughly yanked it out with an approving smirk. It was only then that the two turtles noticed the sai's twin in the female's possession, and they gawked in disbelief.

"No...Really?" said the blue turtle, his eyes still fixed on the unlikely warrior.

Catherine wasted no time in celebrating her small victory before she dashed off to claim another, thrusting her weapons into the back of a second robot. Her fears had been thoroughly banished by the result of her initial quick thinking, and she gleefully threw herself into the heart of battle.

"Really!" the purple bo-wielder stated with an amazed laugh upon seeing the full extent of Catherine's capabilities unleashed.

Golden hair streaming behind her like the tail of a comet, the human girl madly dashed from one end of the yard to the next, her twin sai hungrily snapping up every opportunity for combat. As she ducked and dodged a storm of lasers, her diverted senses failed to pick up another threat looming from behind. Had it not been for a bo staff's timely intervention, Catherine would have suffered a gruesome fate at the hand of a robotic enemy.

"Catherine, be more careful! Seriously!" Lizzy shouted to her inattentive friend, though a frantic worry tinged her accusing voice. She lowered her outstretched bo and glared at Catherine, seeking to force a sense of seriousness into her carefree head, but the only thing the girl received in return was a delighted burst of giggles.

Catherine blew out an exhilarated breath as she gestured to the battle-ridden landscape around her, and she exclaimed, "Isn't this so much fun?! Much better than any practice in a stuffy old dojo."

Shaking her head slowly back and forth, Lizzy shrugged a half-hearted affirmation. "If you say so..." she mumbled.

"BOOYAKASHA!" a voice suddenly cried from above.

The two teenage girls, bracing themselves for another wave of metal warriors, pointed their weapons at the source of the noise as it crashed to the ground. However, it was only the fourth member of the giant turtles, and in a single dizzying blur of motion he had unleashed his nun chucks on an unsuspecting swarm of Kraang, narrowly avoiding the girls' heads in the process.

The turtle, obviously the most energetic of the bunch, then turned his shockingly bright blue eyes on Lizzy and Catherine with curious amazement. Noting the metal massacre surrounding them, and the weapons in their hands, he suddenly made the connection with a loud, "Whoa!" Admiration radiated from his voice as he exclaimed, "You guys – uh, I mean, girls – are good!"

"Thanks. You're not too bad yourself, I guess." Lizzy admitted gruffly, her narrowed gaze never leaving his foreign form. This turtle, as she had already guessed, also wore a differently hued mask from his companions. A startling streak of orange adored his face, though it was much dirtier than the others Lizzy had seen. An obvious testimony to his hygiene, or lack of it, she thought with a huff.

The nun chuck-wielder merely flashed the teenager a vacant grin, making it apparent he had not caught the hostility in her body language, or if he did he did not seem to care. He quickly shifted his pair of nun chucks into a single hand so as to extend the other in a friendly handshake. "I'm Mikey, by the way." he said, still leaving his hand out expectantly.

Lizzy merely stared coldly at the terrapin and chose to remain a safe distance out of his reach with many inches to spare.

The second girl, however, shot her friend a menacing glower of disapproval before warmly shaking the young turtle's hand and chirping, "It's nice to meet you, Mikey. I'm-I'm-"

Catherine's voice hitched in her throat as she gawked at the sickening sight before her, for there, crawling out of a collapsed robot's chest like a scene from a horror movie, was a screeching mobile brain. Complete with wriggling tentacles and razor-sharp teeth, along with pale green orbs for eyes, the very sight of it caused Catherine to whimper in revulsion. It was only when it proceeded to climb aboard her shoe did she snap back to life, and she quickly punted it across the yard with a shriek of disgust.

"Ugh!" she exclaimed, repeatedly shaking the residual goo from her foot.

Lizzy, who had been watching the show with mild amusement, now turned to the orange-banded turtle and demanded, "What were those things anyway? Robots with _brains_ inside of them?! You've got a lotta explaining to do, buddy."

"Well, calling them 'robots' would be an insult to their very nature and history, but the logistics of why would probably be too complicated for a late night chat, even over coffee. Those things were Kraang."

The bo-wielder, after neatly dispatching the last metal solider, returned his staff to its holder on his back and strolled over to the group of three.

"And they're not your problem, so watch your mouth, girly. We don't gotta explain _anything_, ya got that?!"

Spinning his sai in a flaunting gesture before roughly slipping them back into his belt, the red-banded turtle turned his electric eyes on Lizzy and scowled.

"You don't have to be so mean about it, Raph. What they just saw must have scared them silly, we owe it to them to at least explain what had happened."

The blue turtle lightly knocked his rude companion upside the head with the butt of his weapon, one of two red-handled katana, and he faced the two bemused females with a kindly smile. "You'll have to forgive my brother, he can be a little short of temper and manners. My name's Leonardo, and these are my brothers: Donnie, Raph, and Mikey. But I can already see you've met Mikey here." he said, gesturing to each turtle in turn as they all offered small waves and nods. All except Raph, that is, who only deepened his frown.

Lizzy stiffly crossed her arms and raised her eyebrows in casual interest. "Oh, ok." she said in a voice thinly disguised with mock acceptance. "Giant, man-sized turtles with weapons and masks. And they even have names! That's totally normal, yup."

"Lizzy!"

Glaring daggers at her friend for her unkind response, Catherine turned to Leo and said, "You must forgive my friend. She can be a bit...blunt. I'm Catherine, by the way. And that's Lizzy over there."

Upon hearing her name, Lizzy lifted her head. Emerald eyes considered each turtle in all their unfathomable existence, doubt trailing her every thought, but she finally lifted her hand in a hesitant wave, "Hey." she mumbled.

Leonardo smiled kindly at the two girls, and with a slight bow of his head he said, "It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm glad you're both safe, even though it seems you could've done without our help! Those were some impressive skills."

"Thank you!" said Catherine with a giggle at the unexpected compliment. "It was a pleasure working with you as well...Fighting robot things with brains inside of them...Never done that before!"

The six teenagers all shared a laugh at the absurdity of their recent experience, the event serving to unite the unlikeliest of strangers on common ground.

After the mirth had died down to the occasional snort and giggly whisper, the purple-banded turtle looked to the sky with saddened expression. "We should leave, guys. It's getting late, and the longer you girls are around us the more danger you might be in. We don't always attract the best company, if you hadn't noticed."

Silent protest glimmered in Catherine's mismatched eyes, but she kept her mouth shut knowing she couldn't delay the inevitable parting. She and Lizzy watched as the four brothers turned away, and in the depressed silence that grew between the humans and mutants the same question gnawed at their minds. Had circumstances been different, if obvious differences could be looked past, and if the feeling was mutual, perhaps friendship was a chance worth taking.

However, to dull the pain of curiosity they convinced themselves otherwise, all except for one. He had only taken a few steps when his feet refused to move another inch, and with a determined clench of his fists he ran back.

"Hold on!"

At the sound of his urgent voice, Lizzy and Catherine froze and turned around in surprise.

Michelangelo screeched to a halt before the teens in a flurry of dust, and after pausing to take a deep breath he asked, "Do you guys wanna grab a pizza?"

Seeing the shock on the girls' faces, the orange-banded turtle hurriedly continued, "I-I know it's late, and I understand if you don't want to but...We might not see you again. And...I'm hungry. So...Yeah."

Mikey nervously glanced from one girl to the other as they mutely contemplated his offer, but to his and Catherine's surprise Lizzy nodded. A shadow of a smile twitched at the corners of her mouth, and she said, "Ok, I'd like that."


End file.
